(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to polyelectrolytic materials and their uses and relates specifically to an apparatus and process for providing long, economical, and temporary communication links in the undersea environment to provide temporary undersea communications between separate naval submersibles and between submersibles and/or objects.
(2) Description of Prior Art
The conductive properties of polyelectrolytes have been well known for an extended period of time. Biological polyelectrolytes, for example, are the basis for transmission of neural electrical messages and are important in understanding the operation of the human brain. Synthetic polyelectrolytes have been studied for a number of years. A number of recent publications directed to polyelectrolyte developments include "Soluble Conductors on the Way", NATURE Vol. 327, 4 June 87, p. 371 and twelve cited references in that article; "Spiders Hang From Freshly Extruded Thread: and Phase Changes During Elongational Flow of Polymer Solutions", NATURE Vol. 325, 15 Jan 87; a report on the "Second International Symposium on Polymer Electrolytes" by Dr. K. M. Abraham, EIC Laboratories, Inc., Norwood, Massachusetts (Siena, Italy, June 14,16, 1989, ESNIB 89-10); and ASME NEWS, Vol 10, No. 3, July 1990 report of "Entrepreneurial Physicist at Brookhaven Develops New Uses for Electrically Conducting Polymers".
At present, underwater communication links by direct contact between fixed or moving receivers and transmitters require a hard wire or fiber thread that must be stored in the form of a reel or coil and mechanically payed into the water in order to transmit electrons or photons over a conducting "wire". The internal mechanisms and physical constraints imposed by these present methods, along with relatively high attenuation of the transmitted energy with increasing distance, make long range communications difficult or impossible between two or more moving underwater objects. Direct communication links for submersibles to communicate (1) with one another, (2) with fixed objects at sea or on land, (3) between objects launched by submersibles and communicating with each other and the parent submersible, and (4) with surface and air objects through secondary means of communication, are essential at times for safety, accomplishment of the mission and for security reasons.